Halloween arrived right on schedule, and the entire school was redecorated. The giant pumpkins Hagrid had grown in the grounds were carved into jack-o'-lanterns and stacked all the way to the ceiling of the Great Hall.
The torches that had originally lined the castle corridors were replaced with candles. Though they had all been conjured by Dumbledore using Transfiguration and were not real candles, they still gave the already ancient Hogwarts Castle a bit more of that eerie old-castle atmosphere.
The Halloween feast was exceptionally lavish, and even the usual plates had turned gold. Roy even bit one to make sure they were actually made of real gold.
When the feast began, several thousand live bats burst from the ceiling, which had originally been covered with jack-o'-lanterns. Most students were long used to it, but Roy, who had only started school this year, was still curious. Where exactly had Dumbledore caught so many live bats? Snape's office?
Everyone had a great time on Halloween. The professors assigned no homework, and the Hufflepuff common room partied late into the night again.
But happy times were always short-lived. The next day, the smell of gunpowder returned to campus. There was no helping it—the Quidditch matches were about to begin.
There had also been a small twist. Because Elliott, Slytherin's Seeker, had been kicked into the hospital by Roy, Snape had postponed the opening match against Gryffindor until the second week out of concern for Elliott's condition. Unexpectedly, Elliott recovered rather well, and Snape switched the match back. Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw, who had already prepared for their match, had no choice but to wait until next week to settle things between themselves.
The biggest victims had to be Lee Jordan and Connor, the two commentators. Their prepared scripts had become useless due to